


What Forever Looks Like

by throughout



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Endgame Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Immortal Alec Lightwood, Immortal Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Izzy being the badass wedding planner, M/M, Malec, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 04:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13380603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/throughout/pseuds/throughout
Summary: The one where Magnus and Alec get married, and where Alec has a small gift for Magnus at the altar.





	What Forever Looks Like

**Author's Note:**

> this monster was inspired by [this incredible post](https://lightwormsiblings.tumblr.com/post/169698699363/lightwormsiblings-imagine-alec-and-magnus#notes) by the lovely [@lightwormsiblings](https://lightwormsiblings.tumblr.com/) ❤︎ thank you so much for letting me write this, love!
> 
> find me on tumblr [@goldenalec](http://aleclightbaene.tumblr.com/) <3 (previously @aleclightbaene)
> 
> this work is also available in [russian!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14105055) many thanks to the incredible [@alleninhere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alleninhere/pseuds/alleninhere) for the translation!

“Absolutely  _not._ ” Izzy scoffs, turning to face Alec with a sour expression on her face. “What do you take me for, some kind of amateur?”

“But  _why?_ ” Alec groans, throwing his head back against his chair.

Izzy places her hands on his desk and leans forward menacingly, leveling Alec with a fierce stare. “I’m not discussing this further, Alec. It’s tradition.”

“Why do we have to follow stupid traditions anyways?” Alec grumbles, “It’s not like anything about us is traditional.” He fiddles with the pen in his hands and glances up at his sister through his lashes. It continues to amaze him that this woman, who is a whole head shorter than him, can still intimidate him to no extent while standing in  _his_  office.

“While those are words I never thought I’d hear from you, brother dearest, I’ve already told you that it’s bad luck for the grooms to see each other the night before the wedding.” She gets this look on her face that dares him to challenge her further, and smiles, satisfied, when he stays silent, “So good. That’s settled then. You will sleep here at the Institute tonight.”

Alec huffs in response. He hates sleeping at the Institute with a burning passion. The bed is too hard. Too empty. Everything is too impersonal. The purpose of beds at the Institute is simply to provide tired Shadowhunters with a place to rest their muscles before heading out on another mission. It lacks the comfort, the solace found in being in the arms of the only person who makes him feel safe.

Izzy must sense the reluctance in his demeanour, because she rounds his desk and drops a kiss on his forehead. When she pulls back, her expression is sympathetic.

“It’s one night, big brother.” She says softly, cupping his face, and smiles at him, winking, “One night before forever.”

And Alec can’t help but smile at that. It’s been simmering just below the surface of his skin. The need to make tomorrow come faster. Tomorrow, when his life is going to change for the better. Tomorrow, when he’ll look into the eyes that had stolen every part of him with one glance and promise them forever. A forever of everything good in the world, of everything that gave Alec the reason to smile the way he did.

He clasps Izzy’s wrist, squeezing it tightly to show what appreciation he can for everything she’s ever done for him. She seems to understand, because she waves it off with a twirl of her free hand.

Alec pretends not to notice the way her eyes are suddenly shining, wet, or how she quickly turns away from him. He swallows the sudden tightening of his own throat.

“Right! If I find you in here after 10 pm, I will sucker punch you. I can’t have you showing up tomorrow with dark circles and half asleep.”

Alec grins as his sister transforms back into the whirlwind wedding planning beast she’s become over the past few weeks. With her level of dedication, it may as well have been her own wedding. Her rolling orders fade away as she walks out of the office, reminding him for the millionth time to check on his tux, and to shine his shoes, and all the other small details that will lead up to the only moment that will really matter: when he’s able to place that ring on Magnus’ finger and kiss him to seal the start of their forever.

~*~

The telltale golden glow of a portal shimmering into existence has Alec smiling before he even opens his eyes. There’s a surge of magic that sweeps through the room, and to Alec, it’s as familiar as soft lips pressing into the skin at the nape of his neck on a weekend morning. It washes over him softly, warming him better than any blanket ever could.

Magnus steps through, looking as beautiful as the day Alec first laid eyes on him. He’s dressed simply in sweatpants and one of Alec’s old, worn hoodies, and his feet are bare. His face is free of makeup, eyes unglamoured and shining at him in the soft light of the room.

Alec could look at him like forever, bad luck be damned. How could looking at anything this beautiful be bad luck?

Magnus has a sheepish, yet entirely unapologetic smile on his face as the portal fizzles into nothing behind him.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Alec asks, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

“Not without you. Never without you, my love.”

Alec grins, rolling his eyes at the sappy line, and pats the empty space next to him on the bed. Magnus walks over to him and slides under the covers, his arms immediately going around Alec and nuzzling his head into the crook of his neck. He sighs softly and presses his lips lightly to the skin right above Alec’s pulse point.

“Dear Isabelle will have my head if she finds out I’m here.”

Alec chuckles, “Same I swear she’s turning into bridezilla and  _I’m_ the one getting married.”

“Can you blame her, though? You’d be hopeless at planning a wedding.”

Alec scoffs, throwing Magnus an incredulous look, “Please. Did you see what I did with the loft when we redecorated last year? My attention to detail is impeccable.”

“Whatever you say, my darling.” Magnus says lightly, and Alec feels his grin against the skin of his throat.

He tightens his hold around Magnus, who traces little shapes over the shirt covering Alec’s chest. His breath ghosts over Alec’s neck, a feeling Alec has come to memorise over time, in the way it feels as intimate as a kiss, as breathtaking as a whispered “I love you.”

“It’s here.” He breathes, and Magnus’ fingers still, “I can’t believe it’s finally here.”

Magnus leans up to meet his gaze. He places a hand on Alec’s cheek and almost immediately, Alec’s eyes flutter shut, and he leans into his touch. The pull of sleep is finally coming to him, now that he’s enveloped in Magnus’ arms.

“Me either,” Magnus’ voice is soft, poignant, and he kisses Alec like he’s the most precious thing in the world before murmuring, “But I’ve never been more ready for anything.”

~*~

“It’s not my fault! How was I supposed to know that the goddamn flowers have to be picked at a ‘certain time’ in a ‘certain way?’ They’re just flowers!” Jace snaps, voice bordering on frantic.

Izzy takes a deep breath, slowing down her steps and trying with all her might not to crush the phone in her hand. It’s too damn early to be dealing with Jace’s messes, and that too on the morning of the wedding. “A, because  _I told you_ , and B, they’re not ‘just flowers,’ you fucking heathen. They’re specific, enchanted wildflowers that grow on –”

“On the southern tip of an Indonesian island. Yeah I know, Iz. Just – what do you want me to do about it now?”

“Figure it out! I warned you. And by the Angel, Jace, I will  _sock you in the face_  if those flower arrangements aren’t in place by the time I get to the chapel.” Izzy cuts the line to Jace’s petulant grumbling as Alec’s bedroom door comes into view.

But as she pushes open the door, her morning greeting of “RISE AND SHINE, BROTHER MINE” dies on her lips as she takes in the sight in front of her.

Magnus and Alec are tangled together on the bed, Alec’s back pressed into Magnus’ chest. They’re wrapped up in each other like it’s the most natural thing in the world, like being in each other’s arms is the only way they know how to be.

Which is why Izzy can’t find it in her to be upset at them for breaking tradition. She can’t find an ounce of annoyance, because all of the lines of worry that used to crease her brother’s face have disappeared. He looks as though nothing, none of his burdening responsibilities, matter, like nothing in the world is too much to bear as long as he has Magnus Bane’s arms around him.

Because what Alec and Magnus have… it’s the kind of connection that staggers you with its power. It’s the kind of bond between souls that came to be in a universe that was bent on keeping them apart. It came crashing over the both of them, sweeping the ground out from underneath them. It happened like a miracle, and now that they have it, they hold onto each other like they never want to let go.

And who was Izzy to deny her brother the one person that made him happier than she’d ever seen him?

She shakes her head fondly, and steps out of the room, gently closing the door behind her. She decides that she’ll give them this morning, to wake up to each other on a day that neither of them thought would come. She’ll drag Alec out of bed later. She’ll fuss over him later. There is time for all of that later. All the time in the world, if what Alec had confessed to her last month was true. If the rune seared into his skin right above his heart, a rune that would be invisible to all but Magnus, does what it’s supposed to do.

And Izzy can’t wait to see the look on her future brother-in-law’s face when he sets eyes on it for the first time at the altar.

~*~

And it’s more than anything Alec could have ever dreamed of. It’s shimmering gold as far as the eye can see. Sunlight drifts in through the stained glass windows of the chapel, mixing with the haze of gold sparkles falling from the wildflowers. He never imagined it would feel this way, that it would feel like the best thing he was capable of doing, to be standing up here with Magnus’ hands in his, to feel the heartbeat that is tied to his own pulse softly under his touch.

It’s the same altar, a remnant of a time long past, and Alec can almost hear the sound of the doors opening, can almost hear Magnus’ footsteps rushing into the chapel, stopping him from making the biggest mistake of his life. But now, the air is charged with all the promises of tomorrow, of eternity, of a love that transcends all. Now, Magnus still looks like a vision, but this time he’s standing at the altar with him.

The sweet, heady scent of the golden wildflowers is thick in the air as Magnus squeezes his hands, tears near permanent on his face as he begins his vows.

“My dear Alexander,” and Alec marvels at how even after all this time, the word still sounds like something beautiful, like something more poetic than just a name,  _his_ name, when it falls from Magnus’ lips.

“It was a long time ago that I resigned myself to a loveless existence. Everything that happened to me made it difficult to believe in anything as far-fetched as the idea of finding someone who wanted to spend a lifetime with me. I always fell too hard, and too fast. So I set aside all hope of ever finding what I wanted.

“Everything that I have with you, all of it, felt like a dream I would never live to see come true. It was a faceless dream, one that I confined to the deepest recesses of my mind.”

Magnus steps closer to him before continuing, “So believe me, my darling, when I say that when you came crashing into my life, I finally found a face to put to my dream. In you, I found the one person who tore down everything I’d built to protect myself. And even when that happened, when I found you, I’d never felt safer.”

Alec can’t breathe. His heart pounds like a drum in his ears. Magnus stops, glancing down to compose himself for a moment before meeting Alec’s gaze again, and this time, his eyes are unglamoured. He’s the him Alec had fallen irrevocably in love with, his truest self. Alec’s breath hitches at the wondrous beauty of the moment, at the guileless adoration in his love’s eyes.

“Because loving you was like coming home. Loving you was looking at you one day and realising that… that’s what I’d been missing. You were the last piece. You were the one that brought everything together. You are my home, Alexander.”

Fresh tears find their way down Magnus’ face. “And I promise to love you, and cherish you, and to give you all of me for as long as we have on this earth.”

Short breaths fall from Alec, all that he’s capable of mustering. “How the fuck am I supposed to compete with that?” he mutters, loud enough only for Magnus to hear, who giggles.

“Okay, here goes.” He says louder, straightening his back.

“I’m nowhere near as good with words as you, but I’ll try my best.” Magnus’ grip feels like an anchor. “You came at a time when it felt like everything was against me. When I’d accepted that I’d never get the chance to truly be myself. That I’d never do what I’m doing now. And I think the fact that we’re here stands testament to just how much you’ve changed my life.”

He runs his finger lightly over the curve of Magnus’ palm. “The one thing I’m good at is keeping promises. So today, I want to promise you some things. I promise that I will always listen to you. I promise that I will be honest with you, and that I will never push you away. I promise that I will fight for this every day, for as long as it takes, because what you and I have – it doesn’t come around all the time. And I’ve been so damn lucky to find it, and I promise you, I will never let it go.

“I also promise to never watch an episode of  _The Bachelorette_  without you.” Magnus lets out a wet laugh at that, rolling his eyes playfully. “I promise to clean the Chairman’s litter box even when it’s your turn. I promise to never ever put your expensive silk shirts in the wash again.”

When the laughter dies down, Alec continues, “And now, I have one final thing to promise you.”

He sucks in a deep breath. It’s now. Now is the moment, and he’s crying, but his voice never wavers because he’s so sure of this, he’s never been surer of anything else…

“Magnus, if I had a thousand lifetimes, I’d spend every single one of them with you. Waking up to you, holding your hand, and telling you that you are the reason I know what true happiness feels like.”

Alec pauses, and steals a glance at Catarina in the front row. She gives him a small smile of encouragement, her eyes shining with joy.

“So I’m going to do just that. You’ve given me more than I could have ever dreamed of. I’m going to give you the one thing I can, and the one thing that’s really been yours from the day we met.”

Alec holds Magnus’ hands tighter. “I’m going to give you my life. I’m giving you forever.”

Magnus’ mouth falls open, eyes blown wide in shock. A short, shaky breath leaves him as his eyes search Alec’s wildly for any sign of a lie, before they flit over to Catarina, who lets out a teary laugh and nods, hands clasped over her mouth.

“You-you didn’t,” he whispers, voice strangled, as he turns back to face Alec, “you  _did?_ ” Magnus’ hand flies up to his mouth.

Alec nods, and fuck, his cheeks hurt from smiling but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He lets go of one of Magnus’ hands to unbutton just the very top of his shirt, tugging it down to reveal the rune meticulously drawn over his heart. A rune he’d designed himself, the closest translation to Magnus’ name he could find. Magnus’ breath hitches, a choked sob escaping him as he takes it in. “I figured it out with Cat. From this day, I am yours for eternity. And I promise to love you the way I do now, the way I always have, and more, until the end of time.”

“Holy  _fucking shit,_ Alexander!” Magnus cries, throwing his arms around Alec’s neck to outbursts of laughter that light up the chapel. Magnus is sobbing into his shoulder and Alec is  _right there with him_ , and nothing, absolutely nothing, nothing even the Angel himself can do could ever possibly make Alec as happy as he is right now.

And when they kiss at the end of it all, everything else ceases to exist. It’s like being reborn, like feeling his head break the surface of water and feeling fresh air rush into his lungs. It’s just this moment, with the feeling of Magnus’ hands cupping his face, of feeling the rune on his chest come alive like a beam of sunlight passing by. Like the clear notes of birdsong, melodious and heartening, ringing in his ears and clearing his mind of everything.

And as they break apart, as their breaths become each other’s in a way that mortals could only dream of, Alec wonders how he had gotten through anything in his life without feeling exactly the way he does right now.

~*~

In a moment of reminiscence during their first dance, Magnus had looked at Alec and been catapulted back to the moment he’d realised that he had fallen in love with the shy Shadowhunter. When he’d realised that he had unwittingly handed over his heart to a pair of hazel eyes that shone like the afternoon sun. When he’d accepted that Alec’s presence was constant, even when he wasn’t here, even when everything else in the world tried to keep them apart.

Magnus kisses him them, for that everlasting presence, and that kiss had been a  _thank you_  and a  _you are everything to me_  all in one.

And they’d barely let go of each other at the end of it before they were being tackled by a blur of gold in six inch heels.

Isabelle’s grip on the two of them is like a vice, her nails digging into their shoulders. She’s sobbing, crying into their jackets. And Magnus would be all for comforting her, if her shoulder wasn’t digging painfully into his windpipe.

“Isabelle – I can’t – can’t breathe.” He chokes out.

“Oh shut up!” she yells, sobbing too hard to even form the words coherently, and tightening her death grip. “I’m so – fuck – I’m so happy I don’t know what to do with myself. F-fuck you guys for being s-so damn  _cheesy_. I hate you! But no I l-love you both so m-much, fucking  _hell._ ”

“We love you – too.” Alec wheezes, and he gasps for breath when she finally lets the two fo them go.

Magnus takes her in with a small smile on his face as he catches his breath. A woman he’d grown to love fiercely, a woman who is one of the strongest people he knows, who he’s proud to finally call family.

Without her, none of this would have been possible. After all, it was her stubbornness to see her brother happy that had set everything into motion at the very beginning. And Magnus is just about to open his mouth to thank her, for everything he can and can’t put into words, when she waves her hands at him.

“Don’t you  _dare_  thank me, Magnus Bane.” She orders, sniffling, voice an entire octave higher, “I’m fine, boys. Now go. Live your perfect lives and have your perfect babies and be disgustingly, perfectly happy.”

She grabs both of them and plants firm kisses on their cheeks before walking away, still looking like she was sent to God’s holy work even with mascara running down her face.

“You know, I think I might love your sister more than I love you.” Magnus muses, turning to look at his husband.

“And I wouldn’t blame you.” Alec says fondly, his eyes still trained on Izzy’s retreating form, a laugh escaping him as she grabs a flute of champagne from the nearest server and downs it in one go.

The night wears on, enveloped in laughter and joy. Speeches that make everyone cry, music that makes everyone dance. At one point, Maryse comes up to Magnus and pulls him into a fierce hug. Her eyes shine with unshed tears, words she doesn’t need to say conveyed through a hand placed gently on his cheek. It’s a moment that feels surreal.

Towards the end of it all, Magnus turns to his husband.

“I’m all into parties,” he says, grinning as a look of fond recognition passes over Alec’s face, “but what do you say we get out of here?”

Alec takes Magnus’ hand in his, intertwining their fingers together. “Yes.”

He guides them out onto one of the many balconies of the Institute. It’s a quieter night than most, by New York standards. Magnus leans against the stone railing, gazing out over the countless points of light that make up the city in front of him.

When he feels Alec’s gaze on him, he turns to see him grinning at him with the kind of smile that takes over his entire face.

Magnus’ favourite kind.

“Hi husband.” Alec says, reaching for Magnus’ hand, and those two little words warm Magnus to no extent.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing you say that.” Magnus admits quietly, pulling Alec closer to him. He kisses him softly, and then again, and again, just because he can. Because he has all the time in the world to kiss, and to love the man in front of him.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of saying it.” Alec murmurs against his lips.

It’s quiet for a moment. Just with their foreheads pressed together, savouring the silence, of being close to each other. The metal of the ring on Alec’s finger seems to set fire to his skin every time it grazes against him.

“Did you ever think we’d get here?” Alec asks, fingers coming up to caress the skin over Magnus’ cheekbone.

“I had my doubts,” Magnus says, smiling. “Weddings were never really your thing, were they Alexander?”

Alec laughs lightly, nudging Magnus’ nose with his, “I just needed to find the right person. And by the Angel, I did.”

“ _God_ , that was so corny.”

“Get used to it,” Alec retorts, “my sappy lines are here to stay forever.”

And Magnus really wouldn’t have it any other way. He smiles and leans against Alec’s shoulder. It’s peace like he’s never felt before. Like everything finally makes sense.

“I love the shit out of you.” Alec says after a beat of silence, voice soft, his smile accentuating every syllable.

“I love the shit out of you too.”

They stand there, hand in hand, reveling in the feeling of a love that is eternal. Of a love that feels as boundless as the universe itself. A love that seems to shatter all earthly confines. To Magnus, Alec was the breath that came when it seemed like nothing else would. He shines like a beacon of light that cuts through grey clouds. He’s the warmth that comes unexpectedly on a cold day.

And he just became Magnus’ for all of eternity.

Magnus tightens his hold on Alec’s hand, marveling at how he had gotten this lucky. And when Alec turns to him and looks at him in a way that feels as eternal as the stars themselves, he knows that Alexander Lightwood, of the hazel eyes and crooked smiles, is the reason Magnus finally knows what forever looks like.


End file.
